I'd already talked to Alpine before leaving and he claimed that I needed to 'take a break' and get out more, so I'm free to stay with my family for as long as I like. Doubt it'll be that long, though.

"So what brings you here?" Selene asks me as we walk inside. "I figured I needed to get to know you guys more," I shrug. "You actually believe we're your family after all you've gone through and how crazy it sounds?" Selene asks. "The crazier part is that your dragons, so this bit is a walk in the park," I say.

"Hm... fair enough," she mutters. "How are your pack doing?" "Everything's great," I reply. "The others all seem to be in good shape, patrols are functional, our manoeuvres are up to speed..."

"And what about you?"

"What about me?" I question. "I care about how you've been doing as well," Selene smiles slightly. "Well like I said, everything is fine," I say. "No, I mean how are you doing, not your pack or anyone else," she tells me. "What's going on with you?"

"Well I'm not sure you know this, but I found my birth family," I joke, causing her to laugh. "Nope, never would've guessed. Now come on, tell me what you've been doing over the last few years."

"Just training, killing off hunters and taking care of my pack," I shrug. "There must be more than that," she persists. "Unless you count building the sanctuary, no," I reply nonchalantly.

"Well what about before then?"

"I just made sure I survived, mostly," I state. "The island was pretty good for that so all I had to do was make sure I stayed safe and on top of everything. Then Stylive came along and things got much easier so we started practicing some little tricks. That's pretty much it."

"There must be more," she shook her head. "Tell me about that school you went to." "I guess Stylive's been chatty," I remark. "Well I went there when I was fourteen but I had to leave two weeks later. It's as simple as that."

"You're not very talkative, are you?" She sighed. "Only to those I trust completely," I reply. "And unfortunately you haven't reached that point with me yet."

"Will I ever reach that point with you?" She asks. "It all depends," I state. "Find out for yourself what it depends on if you're really that interested."

"Hm..." she murmured, then decided to change the subject. "So how long can you stay?" "At this point... as long as I'm welcome, I suppose," I answer. "Really? Don't you have that pack to defend?"
Selene asks, surprised.

"I do, but my Alpha told me to 'take a break'. I'll take a break when he can convince our enemies to take a break as well," I mutter the last part. I can't take a break until I'm sure they'll all be safe back at home.

"Well you're always welcome here, Indigo," Selene smiles. I nod back, seeing as she wouldn't see any smiles from me around my mask. "Thank you."

"It's the least I can do for my daughter," she shrugged. "Now... what do we do?"

"What kind of things are there to do?" I question. "It's mostly just flying or training or stuff like that," Selene replied. "What kind of training?" I'm instantly interested. She chuckles at my response. "Come with me."

She leads me inside and towards another cave which has a few targets at the back. "There are some bows and things like that in the back, if you're interested," she told me, gesturing to a wooden door. I nod, deciding to give it a try.

The bow is beautifully carved, with elegant swirls and spirals engraving the wood. I draw and arrow and aim it towards a target. This is far from the first time I've used a bow and arrow, so I know how to do this properly and I can hit a target, but I'm not the best at it and lack practice, making me sloppier than when I'm with my sword.

I release the bowstring and watch as the arrow flies towards the target, hitting the outer ring. Another arrow I shoot hits the same area, but on the other side of the target due to how I repositioned it.

"Guess bows aren't your weapon of choice," Selene remarks, watching me. But by now I've gotten more of a feel for the bow in my hands and I draw the third arrow.

Twang!

The arrow rockets towards the target, hitting the very edge of the bullseye. "Care to rephrase?" I ask Selene in a bored tone. She looks from the arrow to me, smirking. "Not bad, Indi. Not bad at all."

"Knowing how to wield different weapons comes in handy with my job," I shrug. "You never know when you need to grab one of your enemy's weapons instead of your own and work with what you've got."

"I hear part of your 'job' is attacking dragon hunter ships," Selene says. "It is," I confirm with a nod. "I free the dragons and kill off those disgusting hunters that don't deserve mercy for what they do."

"You shouldn't put yourself in so much danger," she sighs. "If I don't, all those innocent dragons will suffer a worse fate than me," I point out. "I protect my own. Dragons are my own. Now more than ever, apparently."

"How do you feel about the whole dragon issue, anyway?" She asks. "I'd say I'm taking it surprisingly well," I reply. "Thankfully I didn't end up being a monster like those hunters who kill dragons. That would've been very bad."

"It would've," She agreed. "But you're not. And I'm so very glad for that. I don't know what I would've done if you hated me and your siblings. I would've been devastated."

I nod slightly. She seems so genuine about all of this... if she's not really my mother, I still have to give her credit for acting this all out so impressively well.